Don't fear the Reaper(He's not the one that kills you)
by mrwendel
Summary: This is a one-shot that states the universe in which my characters live in and the original ending of Mass effect ( before time/ budget cuts) done in time-line form to show progresstion up to where my new story will take place this is like a prolauge but since im busy with another fic i wanted to release this and see what kind of feedback it generates. Their are dialauge scenes


"We would have never of guest it. Our greatest enemy, our saviors. There is no way we could have known the Reapers true purpose, what the harvest truely was."

"Only the Shepard knew, right?"

"That's right."

"But why didn't he tell anyone about the darkness?"

"...Because child, even the darkness is alive."

2186

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><p>The reaper war rages across the galaxy tearing away at any other space fairing sentient species. They were warnned but did not belive until it was too late, Commander John Isaac Shepard spear headed the peace talks between the races of the galaxy. He fought the reapers from the begining with his crew of honored heros both living and dead, Shepard and his allies uncovered a wepon of unkown origin it was belived to be prothean but after uncovering a member of the extinct species they soon realized what they were dealing with. The end of days, or it seemed so as the combined forces made a mad dash to build the superwepon that whose trigger only one finger could pull.<p>

Once constructed the battle for the Catalyst began leaving a death toll that is still being counted to this very day. The commander was forced to fight alone as he and a small team were desamated in a fight to the citadel, one in which only he and Admiral David Edward Anderson survived. But as always their is no rest for the wary as the Illusive man(real name; Jack Harper) who was indoctrinated by the reapers in an effort to end them he eventually became them. Once the Admiral was presumed dead what happend next is only known by one man and that is Shepard but recent events have given him reason to tell the whole truth to his new crew. The truth about the Darkness.

Shepard was acsended high into the Crucxible once he reached the top he saw him, the one that warned him a year ago on the meeteor that destriod Artauht. Harbinger, Shepard knew it was him even though he took a different form, the form of the Illusive man but most of his skin was removed if it wasen't for most of the face remaining Shepard would never have identified him.

"Shepard." His voice spoke as though a thousand were speaking from it.

"Heh, I told you!" He shouted tired and breathless with a bullet wound and scortched skin.

"I told you i'd be back! And i'm going to stop your precious cycle!" He stubled as he walked towards Harbinger and almost fell.

"Shepard your actions are in vain, we will eventually brake you." He looked down and turned to face the battle that raged in the stars.

"But your cycle is different, You've surprised us." He held up a clentched fist at the mention of being bested by a lesser being.

Shepard stumbled as he tried to reach for his gun that fell not but a few feet away. As he reached it for it he fell and the wepon was kicked out of reach.

"Shepard, that is not the answer, it has come to our attention that the darkness can be stopped, with your help."

Shepard slowly pulled himself up to stare his enemy in the eyes. He saw the reaper tech pulsing through the body of the deceased Jack Harper.

"The darkness? What is that?" He asked.

"The darkness is the reason for the cycle," Harbinger said his voice sounding distant as though he was thinking of something else.

"The darkness is why we were created." He stood firmly infront of Shepard as he finished.

"Ok, that didn't answer my question. What is the darkness?" He asked again.

Harbinger looked off for a moment, to the beem of energy that pulsed through the crucible.

"It is beyond your-"

"Cut the shit!" Shepard interupted, again stumbling as he grew weaker.

"We are not stumbling primitives who fight with sticks and mud, we are alive! And you will know that we are alive by the number of reapers we kill!" As he said so a reaper was seen falling to Earth crumbling into peices.

Harbinger to a long look at Shepard, his most chalenging foe to date. He turned around and behind him a projection that seemed to appear from no where showed the black nothing of space then zoomed into a planet on on it were the Leviathen.

"We were the apex, the master race..." He said as his voice grew more singular.

"I know, i've met them." Shepard said approaching the projection.

"So you understand our power, our domain."

" You speak as though you were once alive but you're just a machine, created by them to...to create peace with-"

"That is what they told you!" Harbinger shouted his voice now becoming clear and his own.

"But I was alive! I was one of them! But they betrayed me, ME! I created the nexus, the digital landscpe that allowed the creation of what you call artificial inteligence."

"So that's it?" Shepard said," You're seeking revenge on the galaxy for...for what? And if you're more than just a machine then who are you?"

"I. Am. Harbinger!" A booming sound followed that almost peirced Shepards eardrums.

He relaxed slightly as they continued, Shepard decided not to ask anymore seemingly obvious questions.

Harbigers projection showed a Leviathen that resembled the state the illusive man was in.

"What I call the darkness you would refer to as dark energy, it was on the cuspe of engulfing the galaxy. And when all else failed they turned to me."

Again Harbinger looked away he walked over to the edge of the platform and watched the battle.

"Ok..." Shepard said, "Then what?"

"I tried everything and what they asked me to do to my body, my perfect body. That is when I finally realized the solution, you see energy cannot be destroid only transformed. However dark energy is energy that has been destroid and brought back as something that can no longer create only consume. The event your cycle refers to as the big bang left a small amount of dark energy that eventually started to die, but it soon realized that if it consumed other forms of energy it could sustane itself, eventually became...concious."

Shepard couln't belive what he had just heard, a concious being that was made entirley of dark energy? How could that possibly be?

"I'm...not sure I follow, it became concious, but how?" Shepard was sounding confused, "if the reapers aren't mindless machines, then what were they or you for that matter?"

"I'm not sure how it became concious but it is some how it has sopken to me, whispered."

Harbinger shook his head forgeting the experiance as though he himself was indoctrinated by some outworldly force and returned to the matter at hand. The projection had began to show multiple images of the harvesting of numerous species that Shepard couldn't identify.

"I came to the inevitable conclution that the only way to fight off the dark energy is in this form."

The illusive man fell and Harbinger himself floated above Shepard.

"In this form, the one reafered to as "Reaper" we can repel the dark energy with the harvested species and keep it at bay. It shows no sign of growning stronger as it seems to be focusing on our galaxy for reasons unkown."

Shepard did not interupt the pause.

"I belived that with the end of each harvest we grow closer to eradicating the dark energy, and I belived that a human reaper could defeat it once and for all and I still belive that this cycle can remove the dark energy."

"So...you're sure that harvesting our cycle can stop the darkness, forever. Not just fifty thousand years but, forever?" He wanted to be sure of Harbingers true intentions.

The large being contemplated for a moment then answered.

"Yes."

Shepard looked at the projection that was now showing the darkness itself. It was a humongous black hole the size of shich he had never seen, their were reapers surounding it in dark space giving off energy, feeding it so it could stay away from the milky way. But it was more than just a black hole Shepard could see that, the was it moved and gave off the dark energy that could also be harnessed by biotics, it was organic in almost every sense of the word.

"Is there any other way?!" Shepard pleaded. "Anything?"

Harbinger thought back to every failure that befell him and he remembered when he found his "solution" he had no choice, Harbinger thought of the other harvests and what he had learned.

"We do not have the strength to defeat it but we can injure it." He said as though it was already a lost cause. Shepard looked up as though he was about to make a deal with the devil and he knew that in order to save the galaxy he'd have to sell his soul.

In the end Shepard succeded and the galaxy was saved. But for how long no one is quite sure. Fast forward to 2190 Aria T'loak is the first person to tame and control the terminous system for herself. With the raw materials that adorne the systems citidel space had no choice but to accept her price, full rights to all of the terminous systems and no Citidel ships allowed with out special permission from Aria or her Termionus Systems Sheriffs that were made up of a multitude of species but mostly ex-N7s. After the war military budget cuts were made on a large scale, special forces were removed from all sides until 2198 when it became clear that peace was something that would never last.

Still in 2190 the council send shepard on galactic mission to recover the location of the master relay hidden in the persious veil as well as the prothean maps of certain regions of dark space. That remained unfinished due to the reaper invation. A more climatic tale involving a certain Sheriff that involed Shepard recovering the prothean super soilder formula A.K.A. the Alpha serum.

2195

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><p>Alliance secretly works on Alpha serum with the help of genetisit Dr. Oriana Lawson. Also created in that year was the creation of laser technology as personalized wepons. Laser tech wepons can not be compacted due to the mechanisms that allow them to work they are simply to delacate to compact, that being said if they get smushed or break in half they explode leaving conventional wepons the best way to fight.<p>

A stange anomoly occurs at the master relay. Two beems of pure energy one dark one regular shot from the relay moving at FTL speed, they were never seen or heard from again and no other anomolies have occured since.

2199

Alpha serum finally ready for testing, screening for canidates began imediatly. Also Laser tech weponry was offically perfected for standered use, they are currently being used by law enforsment, militaries and the top mercenary groups. They aren't the end-all-be-all of wepons just yet, they can't shoot under water or space nor can they be compacted like other wepons.

Comander Shepard officially retires and currently lives with his wife Miranda Shepard and adoptive daughter Nora Shepard who is currently fourteen years of age. The Normandy SR2 was given to Lt. Commander Ashley Williams.

2208

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><p>Liam Darcey joins the A.C.I.A.<p>

The citidel has made another atempt to welcome the Yagh, but they fail, igniting the Yagh war two years later in 2210.

Sargent Allyson Parish is selected by Nora Shepard who works as an assistant to her aunt Orian Lawson on project Alpha.

Dr. Richard Brenks is fired from project Alpha for pending physch evaluation. He has not returned to the project.

The first batarian spectre Ikare is sworn in.

2210

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><p>The Yagh war begins with numerous invations. The Alphas lead by first gen Alpha Cpt. Lee Riley and other second gen Alphas. The Alphas make progress against the phsycally supirior Yagh and eventually beat them back in 2213.<p>

However the prothean syrum was amde for protheans which causes seveer mental disability in the Alphas such and experiamce sociopathic tendencies that were social norm for protheans of the late era they lived in ( acording to Dr. Liara T'soni who was able to spend time with Javik before his death in 2189: natural causes)

The batarians are welcomed to the citidel council, they were the last race left to join besides the vorcha.

2213

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><p>Alpha 231 Allyson Parish is sent on a special assignment to escort biotic protegey Devin Baker to Alliance project Alpha base in Las Vegas Nevada. She failed and was captured by the splinter group Cerberus who had resurfaced with the help of Dr. Richard Brenks, who used Allyson to synthesize the Alpha serum into the Omega serum which he used on Cerberus troops to attack the project Alpha labs in Las Vagas. Allyson and Devin were rescued by Liam Darcey and his companions but they also found another super biotc who had been raised in the Cerberus facility who had been given the name Nova ( short for Project Nova )<p>

Agent Liam Darcey with aide of fellow Drell agent Felix and asari republics spy Mara T'rya are sent on a top-secrect mission to apprehend Brenks before he attacks Vagas. (Liam, Felix and Mara are currently wanted for treason) But they must also reach it before him so they can re-apply the Alpha serum to Sargent Parish and bring her back to full health. They succeed in ariving before the small fleet Brenks had amassed, and meet Nora Shepard who was less than thrilled to be helping wanted criminals but she knew Allyson and chose to help.

Devin Baker comes in contact with a dark energy scale and gets Nora attention.

"What the hell?" Devin said as the scales meeter went crazy as he past it.

"What is it?" Nova approached him and the scale balanced out.

Nora was preparing Allyson for her procedure and saw the two teens picking up the device.

"No touching...please! " She yelled across the room as Allyson was finally ready to begin her procedure. She walked over to Allyson who was lieing down on the table to reasure her.

"It's going to be fine Sargent, as soon as this is over you'll be you again...well not you, you'll be-"

"I get it...just get it...over with." Allyson could barely speak she was so weak.

Nora just nodded and administered pain killers for the procedure. Once she started it they would have to wait while Allyson recooperated, Nora had made sure to run extensive diagnostics on Allyson. After what Cerberus did Nora was surprised their was anything left to heal. Allysons sholder length brown hair had been shaved on one side to apply neural clamps, there were two running across the left side of her head the rest of her hair was in a pony tail.

Nora looked around at the others, the two teens couldn't be more opposite one had pale skin wirh long dark hair (Devin) the other had a slight tan and had curls in his blonde hair(Nova). Nova had a blank expression as though he'd never seen or heard of most of the things in her lab, which aside from the Alpha tech was pretty basic. Devin on the other hand looked almost bored, he had however made a dark energy scanner go off which was strange, she had to wait for Allyson to recouperate anyway so she walked over and checked the scanner to see what was broken, she was interupted when Liam came behind her.

"Hey I-"

Se jumped and turnned around.

"Please...don't do that." She grabbed her chest breathing in and out. Liam was rather handsome which was the first thing she noticed his light blues eye and short dark blonde hair and his impressive physical apperance caught Noras attention but she was a profetional(sort of) she brushed her light red hair that had small natural streaks of blonde behind her ear and held the Dark energy scanner in her hand as she spoke to him.

"Sorry about that...what did you want?"

"Oh, I just wanted to thank you for not turnning us in. And helpping sargent Parish, she seems like a strong woman."

"Well she was a super-human for the past three years." She pointed out. She began to realize that the scanner was not broken and brought it over to Devin, excusing herself from Liam. She held it over to Devin and the scanner went crazy agian but once again Nova stepped over and it balanced out.

"I'm sorry I broke your...thing." Devin said akwardly rubbing his arm.

"I don't think you broke it she said." Nora looked over to the larger scanner that was used for medical purposes.

"Could you both stand in there please?"

"Where?" Nova asked.

"There, right there." She pointed and walked over to it.

She scanned each one of them and was completly surprised at the results. Devin was eighty-five percent pure dark energy, which would explain his off-the-chart biotics. And Nova was made of nintey percent pure energy, now when I say pure energy I litterally mean pure energy. Some of their organs where missing, they only appeared human but biologically speaking they where anything but.

Nora was astouned at the results, but had little time to marvel at them Felix the drell ran in the lab a little out of breath. Mara went to make sure he was ok.

"Felix what's wrong?" She said.

"Is it the Alliance?" Liam said apprehensivly.

"No, it's Brenks! His fleet arrived, and the Omegas are dropping in the streets."

Nora knew who Brenks was he had left the day she joined on the project her aunt Oriana had told her he wanted to go to far into his research, the Omegas were barely human however their physicological problems where much less than the regular Alphas.

Laim walked over to the window and saw the small fleet.

"We're going to have to hold them off for as long as we can until the alliance shows. Mara you take the kids-"

"Hey I can fight." Devin stated as he walked up to Liam.

"Uh no way, Mara take them to the ship and give us air support. Felix, you're with me we're going to defend this facilty. Nora, make sure Allyson is ready to go."

"It's ok Devin violence is bad anyway." Nova reasured his friend.

Devin shrugged it off and hurried to keep up with Mara. At least he was stuck with the asari and not the drell.

"Oh," Allyson walked from around a corner. She shaved off the other side of her head leaving the top to flow into a pony tail that touched her neck.

"I'm ready, Brenks is gonna find out just how effective one Alpha is."

Nora was about to speak up but Liam put a hand up stopping her. They needed all the help they could get and an angry super-human is very helpfull.

What transpired that day is known as the 2nd battle of Las Vegas the first was durring the second civil war. But that's another story all together, The Cerberus forces were defeated once the Alliance showed up with a drednaught and four battalions of soliders. During the battle one of the Cerberus frigates shot Maras ship, the blast created a hole that sucked out Devin whos soon discovered that being made mostly of dark energy has certain perks. With the use of biotics he flew and was able to destroy Cerberus fighters, Laim and Felix defended the facility well not one solider got past them. Maras ship was brought down from the blast, she and Nova had to fight on the ground with the other Alliance soliders.

The battle ended when Dr. Brenks retreated with the remained of his fleet. Liams A.C.I.A handler Jacob Ryan, who helped Liam escape a Alliance drednaught to rescue Allyson and Devin(unkowingly, Nova as well) Liam was not reinstated, the A.C.I.A had dubbed him to much of a risk and Felix was fired as well, Mara stayed with them and Allyson figured sh had nothing better to do now that most of the Alphas were dead. Devin and Nova were going to be experimented on by Alliance scientists but with the help of Nora Shepard and Ryan they helpped them escape. Now the six roam the galaxy as guns for hire, they find solice in the terminous systems where the Alliance can't touch them and Sheriffs and criminals alike welcome them to do their dirty work.

2215

The Alliance begins project New Horizons. New ships are comissioned to be built all are joint specices projects, they have the same basic body of the Normandy but are much larger because they are being built to last years in dark space. Jacob Ryan is tasked with recruitment for the operation that will take place in 2220.

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><p>Ok this is a tie in to a fic that I'm going to write and will hopfully have a good portion done before I publish it. until then let me know what you think and im open to suggestions and i can answer all questions, i know some of it may have been confusing but the main enemy in the fic is the dark energy which some of you more die hard fans might know about the originalDark energy ending that never was, if you go back and play ME&amp;2 you see that it points to the dark energy theory which it dark energy is consuming the galaxy but the reapers were created to stop it, which led to the harvest. I just simply personified it and gave the "mother" two children. like i said i really want to take my time with this and not fuck it up like i did my last fic that i took down because it was bad.<p> 


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